In the heart of downtown Taipei, amid the concrete, asphalt and steel of the city, lies a pleasant surprise—a sidewalk shaded by trees, next to a flowing stream. Part of the National Taipei University of Technology campus in Section 3 of Zhongxiao East Road, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, the shady waterscape is just one of many eco-campus projects pushed by professor Tsai Jen-hui of the school’s Department of Architecture.
The Taipei City government is working to transform the city center into a green oasis, encompassing such popular destinations as the Taipei Main Station, Hua Shan Creative Park, Guang Hua Digital Plaza and Jianguo Brewery.
“NTUT is the only university within this area, and can play an important role in the transformation of the city center, starting from the creation of an eco-campus,” Tsai said. In 2000 he initiated a project to connect the campus to the surrounding urban area through an ecological interface.
“As a ‘gateway to urban ecology,’ the project, by tearing down the walls surrounding the school, allows the urban environment and landscape to blend into the campus, while at the same time expanding the concept of the eco-campus into the city,” Tsai noted. “This is a shortcut for Taipei to become an eco-city.”
Eco-campus design can help lower temperatures in several ways, one being the simple trick of using permeable pavement. According to Tsai, this kind of pavement allows for the absorption of rainwater, which then evaporates when the sun shines.
“Environmental experts have calculated that one gram of vapor carries away 80 calories. Evaporation is the best way to get rid of the heat and the best solution to this problem,” Tsai pointed out.
“Our problem now is that the roads are made of concrete, which cannot soak up water. So whenever it rains, the water runs into drains and eventually flows into the sea. Because the earth beneath the road surface is dry, temperatures rise when the sun comes out. That’s why people feel so hot outdoors.”
Growing plants on building roofs is another way to block the heat, as shown by NTUT’s eco-balcony plan.
“Since human beings occupy such a large area of land with their buildings, taking the space away from living creatures, it is only ecologically ethical to replace some of the lost habitat with an eco-balcony,” Tsai explained.
On NTUT’s eco-balcony, located on the eighth floor of Design Hall, 14 kinds of plants are now under cultivation, including vegetables such as sponge cucumbers and fruit like papayas. Fertilizer comes mainly from kitchen waste. In the center is a fenced habitat where birds are free to come and go.
“One of my future plans is to set up a farm on the balcony, an actual urban farm. Urban ecology calls for providing your own food from within a certain radius in the surrounding area. It has many advantages, including lowering temperatures in the building. If temperatures are lowered, we don’t need to turn on the air conditioner, which saves more money and electricity,” Tsai noted.
According to Tsai, a study by England’s Manchester University showed that if 10 percent of a city center is green land, it can cool temperatures by 4 C.
In addition to permeable pavement and eco-roofs, an eco-reservoir and campus waterscapes are other ways to help cool off a campus. “The reservoir cools the surrounding air by 3 C to 5 C in summer and helps maintain a constant temperature in winter,” said Lu Ye-an, a second-year graduate student in architecture at NTUT.
The 85-meter-long stream, fed by rain and recycled water, acts like a moat, making the campus friendlier toward the outside world while still protecting it from possible intruders.
In between the reservoir and stream is a specially designed green building. Inside, one of the most eye-catching objects is a stairway banister made from a long tree branch.
Local site conditions are used to cool and light the eco-building. (Courtesy of Tsai Jen-hui, NTUT Department of Architecture)
“The branch is from one of the trees that was removed during construction. As it was here before us, we thought we could make good use of it,” Tsai said. “A true green building takes advantage of the existing environment, and uses the fewest possible resources to achieve its aims.”
The building utilizes passive design, letting breezes in to reduce temperatures, and allowing sunlight in to light the interior. In other words, the air conditioners and electric lights are employed only when breezes and daylight are unavailable, Tsai explained.
The design also takes advantage of the stream. “The purpose of constructing the building here is to make good use of the waterscape. The door faces southeast where the stream is. The breeze in summer brings in vapor from the water surface, reducing the temperature inside. It is very comfortable inside when all the windows are open,” Tsai said.
“It’s hard to believe that this place was the transformer station, a place people dared not come to in the past. The transformer station is now beneath the building, actually,” he added.
“I used to think it would be difficult to convert the school into an eco-campus,” Lu said. “But Professor Tsai has demonstrated that temperatures can easily be brought down using simple techniques.”
NTUT is now working on its role in the city center’s green axis. According to Lu, almost every department is contributing. The Department of Electrical Engineering has conducted research on solar power, energy saving and carbon reductions, while the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering have studied materials that can help reduce temperatures, Lu said.
Rome was not built in a day, nor can an eco-campus be created overnight. Tsai is promoting other projects, such as a sculptured gate in the form of trees, with real plants embedded in it, and the Xinsheng green axis landscape, a plan converting the main campus thoroughfare into an eco-corridor to achieve his goal. As these projects are completed, Taipei will be that much closer to being a green and comfortable city. (THN)
Write to Grace Kuo at morningk@mail.gio.gov.tw